


Unfettered

by IncurablePeppermint



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comic), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Future Fic, Guilt, In the form of the usual Acorn Family Monarchy Nonsense, Light Angst, Some Political Drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-24 05:21:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20700611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncurablePeppermint/pseuds/IncurablePeppermint
Summary: Amy Rose's biggest strengths are also reminders of her biggest mistake. In recent years her guilt has been compounding in upon itself and her friends have noticed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'll have better tags once I get at my laptop lmao

She bangs her thick, golden bracelet against her night stand for what might be the millionth time. It remains both pristine and perfectly planted on her chubby wrist. The dent in the oak night stand gets ever so slightly bigger. Amy Rose glares at her wrist. It was a stupid wish and these clunky bracelets are stupid reminders.

She doesn't know how her friends can so much as look at her. She has trouble meeting her own eyes when she brushes her teeth in the mirror. Hasty thinking done by a child who didn't think out the consequences. Of course there weren't more Rings of Acorn. If there were then Queen Alicia would've been cured immediately instead of everyone holding out for another way. And even if it wasn't used on Alicia, that power could've done so much more than what Amy wasted it on.

But no. Amy needed to hang out more with the big kids. With her then-crush. She wanted to be useful, sure, but in the end? She really just grabbed that ring because she felt left-out.

And everyone has been so nice about her mistake. Especially as the shock aged and Alicia recovered. "We really were mean to you," Sonic insisted. Were they? She proved herself too immature to be of any use when she stole the ring's power. When she held out her wrists for a willing handcuffing.

Tails assured her that it really wasn't fair for them to play favorites. To pick him over her. He apologized for not realizing sooner. Not helping her study or train. She felt pitied and suffocated.

She wanted to help. She's strong enough to help. She's stronger than any robot or robian or anyone else. She can punch a man so hard he goes into orbit. But what is the point?

She restrains herself. Amy has broken too many headboards, night stands, kitchen tables, and windows already. She bangs her wrist against the wall. There's no heart in it. She'll go out and bust her wrist against rocks, again. She'll come back sore, for the thousandth time.

She steps into her slippers. Her feet drag across the floor as she heads for her bathroom. Her day starts with mundanity, but she knows that there's little chance it will stay that way for long. Someone is getting married in Knothole, some distant kingdom decided to send troops, Eggman roboticized his mustache to make the perfect weapon to end us mobians once and for all. Maybe something will finally strip Amy of her ill-gained powers. Maybe she'll finally do something that will make up for her mistake. Unlikely.

What she wants to know, most of all, is how Sally can still talk to her like a friend. Even back then, she forgave her so quickly. Why? Amy still remembers how much pain she saw in Sally's eyes when Amy announced, gleeful and oblivious, that she'd used the magical artifact. Amy feels a familiar ache in her hands. Like her bones are shaking. It shoots up to her wrists.

She shoots back a capful of mouthwash and swishes it around for just a little too long. Her eyes water due to the prolonged exposure to strong mint flavoring. She spits it out and doesn't bother to rinse the sink. Her quills are, probably, a mess. She doesn't check herself in the mirror. She knows what she looks like. Short, stout, sleepy.

When she first underwent her transformation she was almost unnaturally slender. Like she'd literally been stretched up to her full height in a violent growth spurt. Over time she evened out. Got a body that matches her immense strength. Muscles hidden under a protective layer of chub.

That is, until she puts on a gun show for someone's amusement. Usually Knuckles. He thinks her thick arms are really impressive. He's asked her to bench press the master emerald more than once. She might have done it before. On a good day.

But today isn't a good day today. She doesn't know if these muscles are hers or the ring's. She doesn't know how much of her strength comes from within and how much comes from her stolen goods. She doesn't know what she would've looked like at thirteen.

Probably not that different than how she looked at twelve. Eyes wide and bright. Quills pulled back with a cutesy little bow. A band aid covering a scuffed knee or scratched arm. A little kid, not ready to fight robots or talk politics or save princesses.

She can save princesses now, as much good as it does her. In fact, she's frontline now. The heavy hitter. How many years of service will it take to pay off her debt, though? Does it take a sacrifice? Does she need to be scarred? Maimed? Dead?

Is she the only one that still cares?

In the end, there are a lot of magical items strewn about. And when those run out or get lost or get stolen by idiotic preteens there's still science. Scientists saved Alicia. The Acorns might not have ended up using the ring anyway They didn't need it. But what Amy did still weighs heavy on her wrists.

Maybe the constant reminders have just gotten to her. The literal manifestation of golden bracelets that she can always see and always feel. That wake her up at night when she rolls over in her sleep and she touches the cold, curved surface to her flesh.

The knowledge that she's useful only by merit of her biggest mistake. She could have become strong in her own right, but now she's trapped by her magical enhancements. They will always be more useful than any other skills she could pick up.

She shook it off before. Lived her teen years. Became a guard for house acorn. But... It's just hit her harder recently. Does regret come with age? Is stress or guilt the cause of her few prematurely white quills? Or maybe she's just aging faster because of the constant conflict in Knothole. She doesn't know. She gets ready for gaurd duty.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sally listens in on a lesson Antoine is giving before asking Amy if she'd like a promotion.

Antione holds Amy Rose's arm up by the wrist for the newly initiated knights-in-training to see. His fingers rest delicately beneath her heavy gold bracelet, her hand flops limply as he uses her to gesture. "You zee, young ones, she ez a speci-al case. No? I need a volunteer to explain." Sally cringes as she watches from the back of the room.

She hates that he does this to Amy. She cannot get it through his head that Amy hates it. Every time he asks her Amy says it's fine. Sally knows for a fact that Amy doesn’t like it. But because Amy told him it’s okay Antoine dismisses Sally’s concerns. She could strangle him for being thick-headed sometimes.

A little skunk boy holds up his hand. "Miss Amy can't take those off," he says, though he sounds unsure of himself. Antoine nods, reassuring him. "Yes! Okay... So because she has an...  _ Augment, _ she can't wear the full suit of armor other knights wear." 

Augment is a term that the Freedom Fighter forces came up with to avoid saying roboticized a long time ago. Antoine should know better than using one of their troops as a real-life example instead of just showing the diagrams. He should know that almost none of their  _ “augmented” _ companions wanted big metal bits attached to them, replacing their limbs, or hanging from their wrists. He should _ especially _ know better because he’s dating Bunnie, roboticized rabbit extraordinaire. Sally can only assume he thinks that it’s fine to use Amy because she isn’t roboticized and just refuses to bother thinking past that. She wishes he would ask  _ Shadow _ just one time, get chewed out, and see the error of his ways.

"Very good! Z'ese were gifted to Amy by zee Ring of Acorn," Antoine explains. Sally wishes he wouldn't bring it up, but is thankful that he phrases the story so generically. There are a lot of unflattering ways to say what happened. Amy stares dead-eyed at the far wall. "Zee augments make 'er quite powerful, phyzically. Zey also allow 'er to summon a weapon. Amy?"

Amy reaches into the air with her free hand. With a pop and a puff of smoke her piko-piko hammer appears in her hand. "Ta-da," she drones out, sounding more bored than upset. It’s a convincing facade put on for the students, but Sally knows better. The teens ooh and ahh, only a few of them sounding insincere. 

"Yes, fantastique!" Antoine finally drops her wrist. She lets it fall, her bracelet smacking into her thigh. Then she does demonstration swings in silence while Antione talks. "Like many of our troops, Mizz Amy's augments block 'er limbs. Because of zis, she can either wear what armor she  _ can _ put on, or choose to forego it altogether."

"Then how would we know she was on our side, out on the field," a younger teen asks.

"Good question! Does anyone know zee answer? Anyone?"

Sally sighs and takes a few steps forward. The Freedom Fighters used to get gung-ho recruits pretty often, people who’d been studying the guides and practicing sword fighting with sticks since they were kids. Now it seems like most of their new sign-ups are just doing so out of some sense of obligation. "She would be stationed as a front-liner, away from the larger troops. Or she would wear traditional Acorn guard garb, which is cloth." The teens whisper amongst themselves, some surprised to see her, some just using the excitement as an excuse to chat. She’s pretty sure she catches someone complaining about their armored boots.

"Thank you Prinzess. Correct as always."

Amy stops swinging her hammer and holds it loosely, close to the ground. She stares at Sally, obviously confused. "Antoine, do you mind if I steal away your example?"

"Of course not! We were just about finished anyway," Antoine assures her. Amy drops her hammer, letting it poof back into non-existence (or at least that's what Sally  _ thinks _ happens, she's honestly not sure). 

"Thank you, Antoine. Amy, come with me." She motions for Amy to follow her, then leads her out of the room and through the (frankly oppressive) dirt corridors of Knothole. Amy doesn't say anything. Doesn't ask why Sally summoned her. Sally fondly remembers a younger Amy as quite the chatterbox. And truthfully, sometimes she still is, if she's caught in the right mood. Sally has seen her talking Cream's ear off about about the difference between scarlet and crimson. Relentlessly scolding Sonic about proper armor maintenance. Riffing Knuckles about who has the better biceps. But... Amy hasn't really talked to  _ Sally  _ in years. Not like she used to.

At first she didn't notice, Sally is ashamed to admit. Amy withdrew quickly, without warning. But Sally had been too caught up in Knothole politics and the then current set of Mobius disasters to catch it. Sonic had to be the one to point it out to her, even though he usually has the emotional intelligence of a tree stump. She'd originally assumed that Amy was angry with her, but quickly learned the truth when she happened upon the remains of one of Amy's headboards. It was splintered to bits, but the few in-tact parts had tell-tale round indents. It wasn't that hard for Sally to piece things together.

But she and a few of Amy's other friends have come up with a plan. Amy won't talk about what's wrong, so they just have to give her the opportunity to make it right. Or, more accurately, to convince Amy that she's made it right. Sally isn't holding a grudge against her for something she did as a  _ twelve-year-old _ . They didn't exactly keep Amy privy to all of the serious goings-on at the time, she couldn’t have known how special the Ring of Acorn was.

"Amy, I've got an important assignment for you."

"Of course, Princess. Where do you need me to go?"

The formality stings. She wants to insist that Amy call her by her name, not her title. She decides not to push it. "You won't need to go anywhere, for the time being." Sally turns to Amy and puts a hand on her shoulder. "I want you to be a member of my  _ personal _ guard." Sally looks her in the eyes, trying to make it clear that she's welcome.

Amy stares back at her, a conflicted expression obvious on her face. "I'll... Do my best," she assures Sally, despite sounding unsure of herself. 

Sally pulls her hand away after letting it linger just a little too long. She'll chastise herself for that later. For now she's just happy that Amy actually agreed to the arrangement. Sally had been worried that Amy would give her some easy let down. Insist that she serves better on the front lines. Suggest another guard deserves the promotion. 

“Thank you, Amy. I need to be certain I’m well protected right now. It’s really going to take a weight off of my shoulders to have you on board.”

“Yeah... Is something happening I should know about?”

Sally takes a quick peek around to make  _ sure _ they’re alone. She leans in close. “My mother is getting older. She wants to retire soon. I’m going to be taking the crown.”


End file.
